Gambia’s government to impose moratorium on importation of onion

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Gambia government Wednesday announced plans to impose a moratorium on importation of onions in the country to help boost local production, official sources said here.

Some 612 metric tons of onions are produced by local farmers for public consumption, the officials said.

Speaking at a press conference here, Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Fatou Kinteh said “the government is ready to make sure there will be a moratorium so that there will be no onion importation at the time.”

She described the decision as significant, saying it will help strengthen public-private relationship.

“It will also promote commercial farming in the country, whenever the women know that there are business people who are ready to buy more local products, they will cultivate large scale,” she said.

According to her, commercial agriculture will also provide employment and enhance economic empowerment for women and young people as well ensure nutrition security in the society.

Meanwhile, Kinteh Kinteh has called on all business people to support and empower local producers, especially  women, to enable them to produce more foodstuffs.

She however recalled that women gardeners, especially onion producers, had been encountering serious marketing challenges since the declaration of the state of public emergency. 

“This has affected businesses at all levels in The Gambia, especially the market of agricultural products. The majority of these producers are women.”

She said as result of these challenges,’ government collected data on the availability of onion in the country, and the survey revealed that the country had 612 metric tons of onions in West Coast, Lower River, North Bank and Central River Regions.

She assured producers that government would visit women gardeners to know their constraints in order to put mechanisms in place to address them.

-0-    PANA    MSS/RA    jul2020